On a Wing and a Prayer
by Wondering Wanderlust
Summary: (Wirt x Beatrice.) Wirt wakes up from a dream about the Unknown almost a year after his last visit, seeing Beatrice as she ventures on another journey.


A young man scampered through the crooked underbrush, holding tightly to his navy blue jacket just to keep in on in the hurry. The young man ruffled through the mess of overgrown wood and leaves, eventually stumbling onto a paved dirt path. Once he reached this path, he dusted himself down and adjusted his cone hat which miraculously stayed otop his head through the panic. The young man then began to try and gather his now askew thoughts whilst he assumed he was safe from… Whatever he might've been running from. Now that he began to think of it, this young man really didn't recall even whatever he might've been running from. He however, perhaps through instinct, knew that he needed to keep moving. As he began to take his first steps on the dirt path, he heard a voice call his name through the trees.

"Wirt!" A quaint voice amongst the trees said. It was obviously feminine and it seemed a tad distressed. Wirt looked over his shoulder to identify the source of the voice amongst the trees, but couldn't seem to find anything out of the normal. However, Wirt recognized that voice, however he couldn't quite place it to a person. Regardless, Wirt looked further into the woods to try and place this voice to someone. As Wirt pushed through the woods, he decided to call out to this person. After all, by the tone of her (or his, as a voice wasn't much to go on as far as Wirt was concerned) it wouldn't come as a surprise to Wirt if this person was in a hassle.

"Hello? I'm right over here, where are you?" Wirt hollered out to the bearer of the voice.

"I'm right here, Wirt! What are you doing back here?! I thought you left for good!" The bearer of the voice said from a branch overhead.

The young man looked back to the tree, hoping to find out who might bear the voice. However, he didn't quite find anyone on that branch, or even near that branch. No, amongst the autumn leaves he found nothing but the contorted branches of trees and the occasional acorn or stone. However, he was able to find a bluebird on that tree. Surprisingly, the bluebird was staring at him with it's wings at full-extension and folded in his general direction. What might've been even more surprising is that Wirt recognized this bird from a dream. Perhaps, he thought, he was dreaming right now? That's quite possible, even know everything in this supposed dream felt quite real. He had a dream strikingly similar to this once, however he failed to recall most of the details. However, he did remember his kid brother and him were lost in some kind of mystical wood. He remembered frogs, a boat full of them. Didn't his brother have a frog as well? It would make sense, seeing as how he and Jason get along at home. To be entirely honest, Wirt didn't exactly recall Jason's latest name. After all, his name changes almost daily. Some days, even hourly. Aside from frogs, Wirt also seemed to recall birds. There was a nest of them, and they all looked similar. Perhaps they were family? At one point, he remembered Greg and him were being followed by a bluebird for some reason or another. Needless to say, Wirt was having a serious case of deja vu.

"Wirt, snap out of it!" The bluebird squawked, sounding exactly like the voice from earlier.

Was this bluebird… Talking to him? Wirt didn't suppose bluebirds could talk, especially since they lacked the necessary brain functions for higher thinking. But then, Wirt realized that this was probably a dream. Perhaps, he thought, he should just respond to it like it's any normal person? After all, it knew his name, so he assumed he had met it sometime before.

"Oh yeah, sorry. I was just thinking." Wirt said lamely.

"Maybe you can save your thinking for the road? It ought to be quite the while until we come across anything aside from trees." The bluebird said, fluttering down from her branch.

"Right…" Wirt said, despite being rather unsure of the whole situation. However, he started to walk to the path. After all, trudging through the wood could get tiresome so it's easier to have a path to travel upon. The bluebird soon joined him, flying shortly overhead. They traveled quietly for a moment, as if they'd been traveling their whole lives. Wirt occasionally looked past the path to sightsee. However, with the woods looking relatively the same, there really wasn't much to see besides trampled pumpkins and, once or twice, a clearing to a pond that seemed devoid from any life. It just sat there in it's tranquil little spot, reflecting the early autumn sun like a thin sheet of glass. In an attempt to clear the silence, Wirt took it upon himself to strike up a casual conversation.

"So, what have you been doing out here in these woods?" Wirt said, attempting to be social. To be fair, this question was better than the other options he had at his disposal, like "Who are you again?" and "What am I doing in a place like this?". However, those question seemed very formal, which was the opposite of what he was attempting to go for.

"Oh, you know… Things. I've been trying to find those scissors, but they aren't at Adelaide's house. Of course, I'm sure you don't wanna hear about those." The bluebird said longingly.

"Scissors? I can't really say I know what you're getting at." Wirt said, trying to recall anything about scissors. Unfortunately, he couldn't. All he could really recall were frogs and bluebirds, which wasn't very helpful to him at the moment.

"You really can't remember the scissors? Can you remember Adelaide's house, or how far we traveled to get there? Is any of this ringing a bell?" The bluebird questioned, genuinely confused on how these thoughts alluded Wirt.

"Well, not really. I'm not even exactly sure why I'm here in the first place." Wirt said, shrugging nonchalantly.

"So I take it you don't remember me, either..." The bird said, turning back her tone from curiosity to regret.

"Well, we could start with your name." Wirt suggested, wondering if that might trigger anything within him.

"Beatrice, it's Beatrice." The bird responded, then turned back to the road.

"Right. Anyways, where are we going? It seems like, wherever it is, it's awfully far away." Wirt said, looking around him to see nothing but forestry.

"You can go wherever you want, but I'm going back to Adelaide's to try and find those scissors again." Beatrice said.

"Do you mind if I... Tag along? If it's okay?" Wirt asked. After all, the woods aren't exactly a place you wanna be alone in. At this point, Wirt was willing for any sort of companionship,be it bluebird or nor.

"Yeah, sure. Just try to keep up." Beatrice said quite simply. She then turned back to the road now fluttering at a slower pace. Wirt kept up, not noticing Beatrice's change in pace. Beatrice sighed, wondering just how and why Wirt was back in the Unknown after leaving with his brother months ago. It's not like much has changed since then, nor was there really any reason for Wirt to be here at such a time. Beatrice also realized that it wouldn't do any good asking Wirt, for he mentioned that he didn't know why he was here either. She kept on fluttering until she got tired, eventually resting on a tree branch. Wirt joined her, leaning next to the trunk and whistling a crisp tune.

"So… You don't even know why you're here?" Beatrice said, pressing her wing feathers on a much needed break.

"No, not really." Wirt said, stopping his tune abruptly.

"I guess I'm not the only one who feels that way, then. That's a comforting thought." Beatrice said.

"Really? I just assumed that you were, y'know, made up… Seeing as though this whole thing is probably just a dream." Wirt said.

"I could say the same thing about you. After all, you were the one who just appeared out of nowhere." Beatrice chuckled, looking up at the setting sun through the edelwood branches.

"Yeah… I guess you're right. Anyways, should we stop here for the night? I'm kinda worn out from all that walking." Wirt said, folding his coat over him for warmth.

"I suppose we could." Beatrice responded.

"Good night, Beatrice."

"Good night, Wirt."

* * *

"C'mon Wirt, get up!" Greg shouted excitedly.

Greg put down his luggage and pulled the sheets off of Wirt's bed, discarding them carelessly on the floor in favor of jumping on Wirt's bed instead. As Greg jumped, Wirt slowly woke up, wiping his eyes to realize he was back in his bedroom. "Perhaps that was just a dream." Wirt thought, paying no mind to his brother as he stretches a tad. Greg decided that he was fed up with Wirt being so sleepy, and chose to do something about it.

"Greg attack!" Greg announced, pummeling Wirt as he laid in bed.

"Oh no, you got me!" Wirt chuckled groggily, lightly pushing Greg off him.

"Get up, sleepyhead! We're almost ready to go on our autumn camping trip without you!" Greg chuckled, climbing of Wirt's bed and grabbing his luggage.

"Okay Greg, let me get my stuff together." Wirt said, lugging himself out of bed.

"Sure, sleepyhead! I'll see you in the car!" Greg said, trotting out of Wirt's room.

Wirt wiped his eyes yet again as he opened as he reached for his closet door. He then opened up the uppermost door to grab an ashen grey shirt with long sleeves, proudly bearing the logo of the Black Turtles on the front. He then grabbed some worn grey jeans and rushed to the bathroom. In the bathroom, he brushed his teeth and combed his hair before changing out of his night clothes and into his pre-selected outfit. After changing out of his night clothes, he took them and discarded them in the laundry basket and walked out of the bathroom.

After he did so, he grabbed his suitcase, as he would be needing it on the trip. Wirt also grabbed a small leather bound journal from his bedstand, labeled "Dream Journal" by the marker-sketched letters on the front. He decided that his dream was definitely an odd one, and it was worth writing down whilst he can still remember it. He then rushed downstairs, slipped on his black sneakers, grabbed his navy blue coat, and walked into the car prepared to write in his journal about the strange dream he had.

* * *

 **Hey, welcome to the prologue of my first Over the Garden Wall fanfiction! I know the prologue is a tad short, and I hope you can forgive that for the moment. I'm planning on the chapters being a little longer, despite that measurement decidedly still being short. However, I hope you enjoyed it! Regardless, please tell me what you think so far in the reviews column, and I'll try to improve my story off of that!**

 **Speaking of stories, I was wondering if any of you would be interested in seeing a Ask Beatrice story posted, a OTGW/Soul Eater crossover posted, or a Gravity Falls/Welcome to Night Vale crossover posted. If any of these ideas seem like something you wanna see written, please PM me expressing interest in the idea!**


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